WASHINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 6) – The Saint Vincent women's basketball team suffered a 70-63 overtime loss at Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Washington & Jefferson College in a snowy Saturday matinee at Salvitti Family Gymnasium.
After the Presidents (12-2, 8-1 PAC) scored at the fourth quarter buzzer to send the game in overtime, they went on to outscore the Bearcats (6-8, 4-5 PAC) by a 10-3 margin over the extra session in a game the featured 11 ties and 12 lead changes.
Emily Cavacini, who played all 45 minutes, led the Bearcats with 25 points and five assists, while
Madison Weber recorded a 16-point, 14-rebound double-double, along with adding three steals.
Lizzie Bender contributed eight points and five rebounds.
The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead in the first quarter, with a pair of inside baskets from Weber and Bender, followed by a long, straight-away three from
Emily Thompson with 7:09 left. The Presidents rallied to tie the game at 9-all with just under five minutes to go, before Thompson's second trey of the frame pushed SVC in front 12-9 with 4:08 left. After four unanswered points from W&J, the Bearcats ended the quarter with a flourish, with Cavacini burying a three from the right wing at the buzzer to give the visitors a 15-13 lead.
After W&J tied it on the opening trip of the second quarter, but the Bearcats countered with an 11-4 run over the next five minutes, which included two buckets apiece from Weber and Cavacini, and a shot-clock-beating jumper from
Alana Winkler, to open up their largest lead of the half, 26-19, with 4:30 left in the quarter. The Presidents answered right back with seven straight points to tie it at 26 with 2:25 remaining, and the teams would exchange scores over the final two minutes to enter the intermission tied at 30.
Over the opening 20 minutes, Cavacini and Weber each scored eight points, while SVC shot 49 percent from the field and outrebounded the Presidents 19-12.
The squads continued to trade baskets, and the lead, over the opening five minutes of the third quarter. With 3:52 left in the quarter, Cavacini scored five straight points to give the Bearcats a 42-37 lead, but the Presidents promptly countered with a quick 13-2 spurt over the next three minutes to open up their largest lead of the half, 50-44, with a minute left. On SVC's final trip of the quarter, Bender scored on an offensive put-back to close the gap to four entering the fourth.
Weber opened the fourth quarter with a steal and fastbreak layup to pull SVC to within two, before Bender tied it a minute later with a jumper in the paint. With 7:44 to go, Cavacini's mid-range jumper gave the lead back to the Bearcats, 52-50, before she and Weber scored buckets in the paint to cap off a 10-2 run and extend the advantage to 56-52 with 5:20 left in regulation.
A W&J three-pointer made it a one-point game with 3:27 to go, but Cavacini scored on back-to-back possessions to push the margin back to five, 60-55, with 2:22 remaining. SVC's defense forced two W&J turnovers over the next 50 seconds, but couldn't turn the miscues into points. With 40 seconds to go, the Presidents' Meghan Dryburgh connected on a three-pointer to make it a two-point game, and after two SVC turnovers, she would then score the game-tying bucket on a driving layup at the buzzer to send it into overtime.
Cavacini scored the first basket of the extra session, but from there, it was all W&J, as the Presidents outscored the Bearcats 10-3 to pull away for the win.
For the game, Saint Vincent shot 44 percent from the field (28-64) compared to W&J's 39 percent mark (25-64), but the hosts made six three-pointers to the Bearcats' four and shot a solid 14-19 from the foul line, compared to SVC's 3-10 mark. The Bearcats outrebounded the Presidents 41-39, while SVC committed 18 turnovers and forced 14.
Dryburgh scored 25 points to lead W&J, while Bryn Bezjack added 23.
The Bearcats will be back on the road when they return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 10, with a 6 p.m. battle against Chatham University in Pittsburgh.
